“Magic without wizards”, or, why is your favorite bread on the shelf when you want it?

Consider merely the way that your favorite bread is always available, usually from many bakeries. And at the time you want. The bakery doesn’t know whether you will stop in on your way to work, during lunch, or after having dinner.

How can it be that several bakeries know to have your choice of bread available, whether sourdough loafs, whole wheat biscuits, rye rolls, croissants, or cranberry bagels? How did they know to order enough yeast, oil, and flour? How did they know what mix to bake before the sun came up?

How did the wholesalers know enough to deliver the right amount of flour to all the pizzerias, bakeries, and pastry shops?

How did the farmers know enough to plant the right amount of wheat, oats, barley, and rye last spring to harvest enough this fall to satisfy all those bakers?

Hmm. What could be getting all those people working together to make sure my favorite and your favorite bread is available when you or I want it?

Ponder these and many more questions just in terms of having bread on the shelf in this video, called “It’s a wonderful loaf:”

 

[youtube=https://youtu.be/ljULutAUL7o?t=33]

 

The answer of how all that happens is readily available for all who want to find it.

(more…)

“Currency and the Collapse of the Roman Empire” infographic

Silver Roman denarius. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Silver Roman denarius. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Telling the tale of the collapse of the Roman Empire is a challenge even in a full length book. Presenting one slice of the story in an easily read and understood infographic is even more of a challenge.

The Money Project is a blog run by Visual Capitalist which focuses on illustrating complex ideas. Their infographic Currency and the Collapse of the Roman Empire does a great job of describing how debasement of the currency and the resulting inflation made trade more difficult which in turn contributed to the collapse.

Oh, used with permission of Visual Capitalist. (Cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)

A great story with many lessons to be learned for anyone willing to think for a while:

(more…)

Capitalism and Imperialism are *not* the same thing

Voluntary trade between market participants at negotiated prices is not even close to the same thing as forced trade at forced prices where one person has a major power advantage (usually military dominance). In other words, capitalism is NOT imperialism.

Check out this video:

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wy4Sigqd3A&feature=player_embedded]

Some of my favorite lines from Dr. Stephen Davies:

Are capitalism and imperialism variations of the same thing?

(more…)

Another explanation of Quantitative Easing and other performance enhancing drugs

(cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)

Here’s the on-air confessional interview as it should have happened. Or perhaps it is an animated educational cartoon. You can decide for yourself:

Bernanke to Oprah:  ‘I’ve Been Doping for Years’.

This cartoon gives a superb explanation in 12 minutes of a major factor about how we got into our current economic mess.

The format is an imaginary interview with the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, as he confesses to long-term doping of the economy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=orh64vypKwU]

(more…)

Here’s a picture of life without evil capitalism – you may not like what you see

What would life be like without those greedy, evil, money-grubbing capitalists trying to make a buck off consumers? Maybe an Edenic paradise flowing with economic equality and abundant consumer products for everyone?

Not quite.

Check out this view of life without the profit motive, meaning no one has an incentive to provide you with anything.  The video is a play on the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, wherein George Bailey gets to see what the world would be like without him. In this movie, our hero gets to see what’s left over when the profit motive disappears.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwH3Xr6uyG0&feature=player_embedded]

(more…)

Interference in the market pricing disrupts the supply and demand equation. What bad things will happen?

Disrupt the supply/demand equation and what are the fully expected results?

Distortions, shortages, rationing, waiting lines, black markets. Those are the logical consequences of price controls.

Could someone explain to me why shortages and rationing and black markets are morally superior to free enterprise?

Check this out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7MY7E_VhKMM]

(more…)